Elevated cable railway and car



(No Model.) 7 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

A. L. GRINNELL. ELEVATED CABLE RAILWAY AND GAR.

N0. 416,220. Patented Dec. 3, 1889.

' 2 Sheets'-Sheet- 2. A, LGR'INNELL. ELEVATED CABLE RAILWAY AND OAR.

Patented Dec. 3, 1889.

Vll

(No Model.)-

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AMOS L. GRINNELL, OF CAMPBELL, IOVA.

ELEVATED CABLE RAILWAY AND CAR.

SPEC IFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 416,220, dated December 3, 1889..

Application filed November 6, 1888- Serial No. 290,141. (No model.)

'tlii-ough farms and over roadways.

My invention consists in the construction and combination of cables and cable supports and carriages having traction-wheels on their tops, as hereinafter set forth, pointed out in my claims, and illustrated in the ac-v com panying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of a section of my elevated double track, showing a carriage suspended thereon and in position as required for practical use. Fig. 2 is a modifled form of the double track. Fig. 3 illustrates a device for pivoting the tracks to the posts to facilitate the passage of a car over the point Where the traclesupport projects at right angles from the post.

A are posts set in the ground at suitable distances apart.

B are cross-pieces fixed to the top portions of the posts.

C C are cables fixed to the ends of the crosspieces B in such a manner as to maintain a continuity of track-surface, over which traction-wheels can be advanced.

D (shown in Fig. 1) is a cable stretched over and fastened to the top of the posts to brace them and to aid in supporting the cables C, that are connected therewith by means of stay rods or ropesf, that extend from the cross-pieces B to the cable D.

G (shown in Fig. 2) represents a curved bar fixed to the ends of the parallel cables 0 to connect them in such a manner that a carriage can be moved from one cable to the other, as required in making a continuous track or a turn in a track.

J are rigid bearers pivoted to the ends of the cross-pieces B in such a manner that the track can be fixed on their beveled top edges,

so that when the suspended carriage reaches one end of the bearer J it will depress that end, and the bearer will serve as an inclined plane to facilitate the passage of the carriage over the point of the track-support, and when the carriage has passed the pivotal point and center of the bearer it will reverse the motion of the bearer and serve as an inclined plane to advance the carriage onthe track. Theshort and abrupt inclines of a track that is supported at a fixed point at a post, and caused by the sagging and yielding of the track or cable, is avoided by means of the pivoted bearers J.

H represents a car or carriage that has its traction-wheels on top, as shown in Fig. 1. The tread or periphery of each wheel .has a continuous groove adapted to admit the cable upon which it is to be suspended and propelled. Any suitable mechanism may be combined with the carriage for the purpose of rotating one or both of the wheels as required to propel the suspended carriage upon the elevated track.

I am aware cables have been supported in parallel position upon a line ofposts and that a seat. has been suspended upon an elevated track or cable in such a manner that a person upon the seat could operate mechanism to propel the seat and a car on top of the cable; but my manner of eonstructinga c011- tinuous track of parallel cables and rigid curved ends is novel and advantageous.

I claim as my invention 1. An improved elevated cable railway comprising a line of fixed posts having fixed cross-pieces at their top portions, rigid trackbearers pivoted to the ends of said crosspieoes, a rigid curved track at the end of the line of posts, and two parallel cables connected with the ends of the curved track and the pivoted track-bearers, to operate in the manner set forth, for the purposes stated.

2. In an elevated railway-track or cablesupport, the combination of pivoted rigid support J with a cross-piece fixed to a post, to operate in the manner set forth, for the purposes stated.

AMOS L. GRINNELT).

Witnesses:

.R. H. ORWIG, THOMAS G. ORWIG. 

